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TUBUAI ARTIFACTS Adze Type 1Aa (horned) 453-332-1Aa-1f This artifact was brought to the surface by the recent tilling of Parcelle 332 TIIRUA. Recovered from blackened midden bearing sand it is a darker grey than is usual for such ancient work. It is heavily patinated however, all surfaces being of a uniform flat grey that does not show any light reflecting shine. It is an unusually small size for this model and may be an early example although it is thoroughly pecked. The pecking being of a very precise and fine nature, has been used to round off all chipping scars with the exception of the extreme limits of the poll. Other specimens of this type show that they have been shaped mainly by accurate chipping while the pecking remains as a finishing process that reduces the amount of grinding necessary, and indeed these types sometimes appear with a minimum of grinding. In the above example there is only a slight trace of grinding on the posterior surface however it may be unfinished, grinding in any case may not be extensive in this butt area. The horns although small are deliberate and typical of this early type, where they have been fashioned by chipping only, in the more evolved models the horns become better defined and more distinctive being formed with the aid of pecking to further reduce the surrounding surfaces. In this particular specimen we see also many scars even though somewhat obscured by pecking, these imperfections are eliminated from the more evolved models by a number of different processes. In this period of adze development we see the decline in the use of extensive grinding, which in the earlier periods was used almost in the vain of a shaping technique, i.e. large imperfections were reduced by heavy grinding rather than precision chipping. This period which saw decline in grinding and the increase in the use of pecking may be isolated chronologically within the IA adze forms. Certain large early models retain the use of extensive heavy grinding, with only a trace of pecking (generally in the butt) while the later fully horned models are so extensively pecked that necessity of grinding is much reduced and in some cases only lightly applied. |
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